See History of Arizona medicine; collections of Orville Harry Brown, M.D. [AHSL Special Collections WZ 70 AA7 H673].
Quebbeman, Frances E. Medicine in territorial Arizona. Phoenix : Arizona Historical Foundation, 1966, page 331.
Dates: September 23, 1873 - December 28, 1942
See Chester R. Burns, "BROWN, WILLIAM LAUNCELOT," Handbook of Texas Online: "...was granted a medical degree by Rush Medical College (Chicago) in 1896. After two years of postgraduate training at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, he established a practice in Unionville, Missouri. In search of a drier climate because of impaired health, Brown moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 1900. He and his brother, Dr. C. P. Brown, were employed as surgeons by the Phelps-Dodge Corporation, which managed the Copper Queen Mining Company in Bisbee, Arizona. After the corporation built a railroad between Bisbee and El Paso, Texas, the two brothers became railway surgeons and moved to El Paso, in September 1902. Brown served as chief railway surgeon until the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad was bought by the Southern Pacific. He then became consulting surgeon of the western division of the Southern Pacific, a post he retained until his death."
Brother: Dr. C. P. Brown [=Charles P. Brown?]
Connection with Panco Villa:
Arizona Republican, April 17, 1916, page 1: Grave gives up moldering body of bandit Villa. ... Body is said to be in possession of Carranzista troops...: ...Villa has been suffering for more than a year from a virulent form of blood poisoning. He was treated for this disease while in Juarez by Dr. W. L. Brown, one of the best known physicians in El Paso. Dr. Brown states that the condition of the bandit was such that even a minor wound would be fatal in ten days unless treated promptly and with the best medical skill and care. Even under the most favorable conditions such a wound would be of the gravest character. It is certain that if Villa was wounded he could not have commanded anything but the most primitive treatment.
See also: El Paso Times, December 29, 1942. Texas State Journal of Medicine, March 1943.